


make me somebody

by thisissirius



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bonnie & Clyde, Attempted Murder, M/M, Murder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-17
Updated: 2017-05-17
Packaged: 2018-11-01 23:21:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10932144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thisissirius/pseuds/thisissirius
Summary: “Hear that?” Robert says, sliding his hands up Aaron’s thighs. “We’re highly dangerous.”the bonnie & clyde au nobody asked for.





	make me somebody

**Author's Note:**

> this has been a long time coming and will probably not live up to expectations 
> 
> it's the bonnie & clyde au, but tbh it's more about the relationship between aaron and robert than it is about them being on the run. tbh the uk isn't the best place to do a bonnie & clyde lmao. but here we are anyway.
> 
> (bobbie, i'm sorry if this isn't what you were expecting ;))

_“... Yorkshire Police were on high alert this morning when it was discovered that convicted murderer Robert Sugden had escaped from Manchester Prison. Accompanied by former lover and partner in criminal activity, Aaron Dingle, this escape comes just a month after their public trial and sentencing. It’s emerged that Sugden was_ mistakenly _transferred to Manchester from Wakefield Prison. As a condition of their sentencing, neither Sugden nor Dingle were permitted to serve in the same institution, and it is not understood at this time why Sugden was issued with transfer documents. Sugden – and Dingle – are both considered highly dangerous, but West Yorkshire Police are keen to assure the public that they’re doing everything in their power to recapture both fugitives...”_

 

 

 

“Hear that?” Robert says, sliding his hands up Aaron’s thighs. “We’re highly dangerous.”

Aaron snorts, fingers threaded through Robert’s hair. He tugs, none too gently, reminding Robert of what he should be doing. The TV’s been on low since they arrived at the camp site. The caravan is shitty, needs work, but they’ve stayed in worse places, and it’s better than the cage Aaron’s used to living in.

“Alright,” Robert agrees affably, settling back down between Aaron’s legs.

It’s been months since they could touch, Aaron can’t remember the last time Robert touched him like this; fingers dancing lightly over his legs, mouth hot and wet around his dick, the tickle of Robert’s too-long hair against his groin.

 _Highly dangerous,_ Aaron thinks, looking down at Robert’s mouth stretched obscenely over his dick, the cocky look in his eyes, the way he’s always made Aaron fall, over and over.

There’s a trail of blood behind them, from Yorkshire to Cornwall, and Aaron can’t remember the last time he wasn’t afraid of the sound of sirens, but Robert’s always seemed worth every second. Highly dangerous doesn’t even begin to cover what they are.

 

 

 

Aaron meets Robert on a Thursday.

It’s the winter, snow fall in the Dales an almost weekly occurrence. It’s thick underground as he makes his way up to the garage, sees an Audi he’d kill to get his hands on sitting on the forecourt. There’s a blonde leaning against it, ankles crossed.

“Robert Sugden,” the guy says, all smirk and cockiness.

Aaron wants him, a thrill under his skin that he can’t shake. “You need something?”

 _You’ll get smacked with that mouth one day,_ his mum was fond of telling him.

Instead of irritated, the guy’s smirk just widens as he pushes himself off the car. “I’m having a bit of car trouble.”

Aaron nods, can’t deny that he wants to get his hands on the car, and rubs at his nose as he takes in the sleek lines, the shiny exterior, looks through the windows and wants to feel the leather under his fingers.

“Nice, isn’t she?” Robert’s looking at him, something heated in his gaze. _Want_ , Aaron thinks.

Except for the brunette currently striding up the path, long legs, beautiful smile, money. “Darling,” she says.

“Chrissie,” Robert says, as much an introduction as it is a statement. He doesn’t take his eyes off Aaron, even with Chrissie talking about Home Farm, about moving back, about _family_.

“So permanent then,” Robert mutters, brushing a hand over the bonnet of his car.

“Afraid so,” Chrissie says, a soft smile for Aaron.

Aaron doesn’t smile back, but does note the look on Robert’s face, the way he says, “don’t think that will be a problem,” with so much promise behind it.

Promise for _Aaron_

(and Aaron wants, oh does he _want_.) 

 

 

 

Emmerdale hadn’t been permanent.

Chrissie hadn’t been permanent.

The only permanent, the only _constant_ , was Aaron.

 

 

 

“Where are we gonna go,” Aaron asks him, brushing fingers through his hair.

Robert’s looking out of the window, at the rain battering the small caravan windows. He’s comfortable, Aaron taking his weight, nothing but _them_. “Anywhere but _there_.”

The memories alone are enough to make him shiver. Aaron draws him closer, presses a kiss to his temple. The love Aaron has for him is as intoxicating as is it is overwhelming; Robert’s never been able to fight it, and there’s so much he’s done because of it.

Chrissie. Liv. _Gordon_.

“We’re never gonna stop running,” he says, running his fingers over his palm. “No matter what we do.”

“Do you regret it?” Aaron asks. 

Robert tips his head back so he can look Aaron in the eye. “Not for one second.”

 

 

 

“They’ve been at it for months,” Chrissie says, cold and angry.

“I knew it,” Katie crows.

“Since when are you gay?” Victoria asks.

Robert’s face shifts from guilt to anger to something else Aaron can’t define. “I’m not _gay_.”

The aftermath of their affair bleeds into something close to uncertainty, the two of them moving together in an off-kilter relationship. They say _I love you_ , they kiss, they touch, they’re _together_ , but there’s something missing, some spark they can’t find.

Until Diane comes back from hospital and brings _Gordon_ back into Aaron’s life.

 

 

 

There’s a car sitting on the grass beside the caravan and Aaron’s bent over it, trying to get it back into working order. Robert’s supposed to be helping, but he’s having more fun staring at the line of Aaron’s ass in his jeans.

“Are you gonna help?” Aaron snaps, looking back over his shoulder.

“Why?” Robert says, shoulder against the door of the caravan. “The view’s too good to pass up.”

Aaron rolls his eyes, but there’s a hint of a smile on his face. They’re few and far between these days, and Robert knows why. There are prisons with their names on, and Robert’s stomach rolls when he thinks about it. He runs his eyes over the caravans sitting in the small field, most of them empty. It’s the only campsite they’ve found that wasn’t full of holiday makers and permanent residents.

It’s getting harder for them to move and _not_ be found.

“I always thought the UK was small,” he says, almost to himself.

Aaron’s eyes burn into the side of his face, but Robert can’t bring himself to look. “So we leave.”

“And go where?” Robert asks. He thinks of Vic, of Tommy, of _Liv_. “We’re not going to be safe here, and we can’t just _leave_.”

“Yeah, we can,” Aaron says, dropping the dirty rag he’d been using on the car at his feet. “We can go anywhere they don’t have extradition.”

It’s risky; “Those places won’t take kindly to _us_ either.”

Aaron sighs, but steps up next to Robert, wraps his arms around his waist. Robert presses their foreheads together. “Do you ever wish things had been different?”

“No,” Robert says, kissing Aaron, fierce and hungry. “It’s been worth it, all of it.”

“So where do we go?”

“We get Liv,” Robert says, decisive, looks at Aaron’s face and knows it doesn’t matter where they go, as long as he has _them_. “We leave.”

Aaron’s face shifts. “I can’t have her in this life, Robert, I already-”

“She’s in it and you know it. They dragged her up on that stand, Aaron, tried to make out you _forced_ her, that I did.”

Aaron closes his eyes, buries his face in Robert’s neck. Robert can feel the puffs of breath against his neck. It’s a fight they’ve had before, before _prison_ , when Liv turned up on the doorstep of the safe house, bag in hand.

“We’ll be condemning her to a life on the run.”

“Let her make the choice,” Robert says, hates himself that he already knows what she’ll say. “If she doesn’t come now, she’ll find you later.”

It’s not a threat; Liv’s said as much, furious and strong on the stand, spitting that they knew nothing, that Aaron and Robert would never –

“I love her,” Robert says, softer, drags Aaron’s face up. “I wouldn’t take her unless I thought it was safer than to have her come after.”

Aaron nods, throat swallowing once, twice. “Alright. But the first hint of trouble-“

“It was all my idea,” Robert says.

Sacrifices. They’re always making sacrifices for each other. Though, Robert thinks, as they kiss again, Aaron’s hands pushed up under his t-shirt, they really don’t feel like sacrifices.

 

 

 

(Gordon was the first.

Somehow, it always comes back to Gordon.)

 

 

 

 

Every moment is etched in stone;

Robert’s fingers around the gun

Gordon’s sneer

Aaron’s chest constricted with fear, with hatred

“You _hurt_ him, I’ll kill you-”

“You don’t have the _balls-”_

Aaron’s never _seen_ so much blood

Robert’s hands shaking, his eyes alight with rage, his clothes bloody

“Come on, Rob, _come on_ -”

Fingerprints everywhere, Robert’s hallmark all over the room, all over _Gordon_

The sound of Robert crying in the bathroom, throwing up, the feel of his trembling body as Aaron put him to bed, kissed his forehead

and then it has crashed over him

Gordon was dead, and Robert had pulled the trigger.

 

 

 

(“I’m not sorry,” Robert tells him eventually. 

“I know,” Aaron says, because he does, and because he isn’t either.)

 

 

 

There are nightmares sometimes.

Robert shakes himself awake with the force of them, gasping breaths as he struggles to come back to himself.

Aaron never screams, just thrashes and feels the steady drag of Robert’s hand in his hair, whispered words of comfort in his ear.

Neither of them talk about them.

Perhaps that’s a mistake, letting these things fester, but Aaron can’t bring himself to talk about Lachlan, about having to watch Robert being walked down into the prison, can’t talk about his own incarceration. Robert wants to forget prison, wants to rip the experience from his mind, wants to take away the blood on his hands, wants to rid himself of everything not _Aaron_. 

 

 

 

Robert lies.

"This isn't a love story," with Gordon's blood on his hands and Liv in the back seat.

"I kidnapped Lachlan," to the police, when they're cornered outside a pub in Cornwall.

"This isn't your fault," pressing a kiss to Aaron's neck before they're hauled away to separate prisons, and Aaron thinks he'll never touch Robert again. 

 

 

 

Aaron doesn’t know how Vic finds them, but she does.

“What did you?!”

Robert’s sitting on the edge of the bed. Aaron knows what to look for, knows the subtleties of Robert’s moods, how much Gordon’s death still presses against him. There’s no regret, not even for an instant, but murder isn’t something you just shake off.

“I can’t go back,” Robert says, voice unwavering.

“Why?” Vic’s got her hands on her hips, eyes blazing. “Robert, you just _left_.”

“Robert-”

“I did something,” Robert tells her, eyes on Aaron. There’s a hesitation, permission perhaps, and Aaron nods. “I killed Gordon.”

The silence isn’t broken for a long time.

 

 

 

The prosecutor’s a tall woman, imposing and adamant in her reasoning, but Robert’s not protected Aaron this much to lose _now_.

"Did you know," the prosecutor says, raising her eyebrows, all mock incredulousness. "It's been suggested that Manson's women looked at him for direction when in the courtroom. There have been several times, Mr. Sugden, that you've made direct contact while Mr. Dingle was giving his evidence. Would you care to explain that?"

Aaron’s evidence had been long. A hostile witness, a detriment to the defence rather than a benefit, but Robert’s heart thumped in his chest at the sight of him, at the sound of his voice. Aaron was unwavering, adamant that Robert didn’t do anything, that it wasn’t _him_.

“Mr. Sugden,” the judge admonishes. “Please answer the question.”

Robert looks up into the gallery, past the Dingles, past Diane, to where Vic and Andy are sat shoulder to shoulder, the former nodding, the latter rubbing his nose, eyes flicking to the door. It’s done, then.

"Mr. Sugden," the judge says, stern.

"Aaron wouldn't take direction if I gave it," Robert says, eventually, eyes on the prosecutor. He hates her, knows she’s just doing her job, but she has the potential to take Aaron from him forever.

Though, he thinks, a smile curling at his mouth because Vic and Andy came through, not for long. He thinks about Aaron’s stubbornness on the stand, the way he'd always refute Roberts plans, like they could stay on the run forever. Robert misses him, then, viscerally, and he lets his anger fuel him.

"Aaron's worth a thousand times more to me than any of those women were to Manson. He's not a thug, he's not -" Robert cuts himself off from saying dangerous, knows it's a lie. Aaron is dangerous, but only ever to Robert. "Aaron's not guilty. I am.”

A ripple through the courtroom, his defence team looking stunned, angry.  

Robert presses himself up to his full height, looks at Chas in the stands, sees her expression of gratitude and appreciation. “ _I’m_ guilty."

 

 

 

“Finally,” Liv says, sliding into the backseat of the car.

“Are you sure about this?” Aaron says, turning around. “This isn’t a holiday.”

“I know,” Liv snaps, eyes dark. “Mum _died_ , Aaron, and so did my dad. It’s not like I have anywhere else to go.”

Robert’s mouth is a thin line, and Aaron squeezes his thigh, tries to get his anger under control.

“That’s not-”

“They gave me immunity for testifying against you,” Liv says, and something flickers in Robert’s eyes. Aaron though he’d _known_. “They can’t charge me for this, not for doing what I’ve already done, I checked. You can’t leave me here.”

“Liv,” Robert says, staring straight ahead. “You can’t ever come back.”

“For what?” Liv takes a deep breath, fiddles with her bag. “You’re the only family I have. I _want_ to be with you.”

 _It’s not safe_ , Aaron thinks. _I’m going to get you killed_.

“I’ll keep ya safe,” Robert says, _promises_.

Aaron looks at him, at Liv, and thinks maybe, _maybe_ , Robert can – he has so far.

 

 

 

".... do you know what Stockholm Syndrome is, Mr. Sugden?"

Robert smirks. They can't be serious. "You think I kidnapped Aaron and forced him into falling in love with me?"

There's an awkward silence. The two coppers exchange looks, and Robert gets it, knows how the police feel about _Dingles_.

"You think he stockholmed me?" Robert laughs, genuinely delighted. He's never been accused of being the victim before, and the idea that his Aaron could be anything close to that dangerous-

"Oh, do you have this wrong," Robert tells them, smirk still in place. He leans on the desk, taps his fingers on the desk. “Aaron couldn’t kill anyone, not for a second. Aaron couldn’t _make_ anyone kill someone he didn’t like. Not Gordon, not Lachlan, _nobody_.”

“And you?” The older guy says, eyebrows raised. “Could _you_ kill someone?”

Robert shrugs, sits back in his chair. “That would be doing your job for you.”

Sometimes, Robert sounds braver than he feels; the blood on his hands is obvious, to Aaron, to Liv, to Vic. It’s obvious to everyone but the police, who think _Aaron’s_ the one they should be afraid of.

The only one afraid of Aaron is Robert; afraid of what he makes Robert want to do, what he’s _already_ made Robert too, through no fault of his own. If he’d ask, he never _would_ , Robert would do it.

Love, Robert thinks, as he’s led back to his cell, to the impending murder charge, is costly.

But so worth it.

 

 

  

Robert's truths hurt worse than his lies ever could.

"He's everything," to Aaron's mum when they think he's asleep, the draughty safe house a ramshackle barn in the middle of nowhere.

"Guilty," to a courtroom full of people on his plea to the charges of murder, GBH and perverting the course of justice. 

"Because I love him," on his reasons for Gordon, for Lachlan, for going on the run.

 

 

 

“I need to say goodbye to Vic,” Robert says, pulling into a petrol station on the M25. It’s one of the last before the airport, and it’s _dangerous_ , but Aaron can’t begrudge him this. He’s already made his peace with his mum, with his family, but he wasn’t in a secluded unit, had the ability to _talk_ to his family.

Aaron shifts in the seat, taps his fingers against his knee.

“What was prison like for ‘im?” Liv asks, voice quiet.

Aaron closes his eyes, thinks of Robert’s nightmares, of the sight of him when they’d escaped, the look on his face. “He won’t talk about it.”

A huff. “That doesn’t mean you don’t know.”

“Worse than for me,” Aaron says, tone brooking no argument.

Liv nods, playing with the case on her phone. She’s frowning, looks out the window to where Robert’s propped up against the wall, a soft smile on his face as he talks on the phone. “He alright though?”

Aaron can’t tear his eyes away from Robert, thinks of everything they’ve done just to get _here_. Thinks of how far he’d still willingly walk just to keep Robert with him. “Will be." 

It’s a promise; they’ll all be alright, as long as they stick together.

 

 

 

Lachlan is an accident.

Robert goes to Chrissie for his divorce papers.

The mess with Gordon is all over the papers, but nobody’s connected Robert Sugden with Gordon Livesy. Aaron hopes they won’t for a long time, especially if Cain and his mum have done what they said they would.

Chrissie’s got a son.

“Trouble,” Robert says with a wry smile.

It wasn’t wry, and it certainly wasn’t a smile, when Lachlan threatened Robert with prison, for touching him, for making him _do things_.

He doesn’t know, can’t know, but it’s too close to home and Aaron can’t have that, can’t lose Robert.

“Aaron,” Robert warns.

“Lachlan,” Chrissie admonishes.

Too late, Aaron thinks, waits until darkness falls.

Lachlan in the boot, Robert’s panicked voice in his ear, but Aaron just wants to get his hands around Lachlan’s neck and squeeze.

Except.

Aaron’s not a killer. He stares at Lachlan, then at Robert, and _can’t_.

“It’s alright,” Robert says, something heavy on his face. “We’ll let him go.”

There’s something there, Aaron knows, something in the way Robert looks at him then

_i could kill and you couldn’t what does that make me_

that makes Aaron’s chest ache. 

 

 

 

(Sometimes Aaron lies too;

"I promise," when Robert gives himself up, tells Aaron to save himself.

“Not guilty,” on the charges of attempted murder and GBH.

“I wish I’d never met ya,” to Robert, across a crowded courtroom.)

 

 

 

“What was it like?”

Liv’s grabbing snacks for all of them, Aaron can see her familiar figure threading through the aisles, tongue between her teeth. He doesn’t know what makes him ask, but Liv’s questions have made him need to know.

“What?”

Aaron feels proud, scared, and determined in equal measure. “You never talk about it.”

The emotions play out on Robert’s face, his jaw clenches.

“I can’t-” Robert starts, reconsiders. Aaron needs to know why they’re doing this, why he can’t go back, and says so. Robert sighs, nods. “Hell. I got an hour a day. I was barely fed, couldn’t see anyone.” He swallows, clenches his hands into fists. “My mail didn’t get to me. It was a month and it felt like a year.”

“People must _know-_ ”

Robert snorts. “It’s their special mental health unit, Aaron. Nobody cares as long as the prisoners are out of the way.”

Aaron feels sick, remembers Robert talking about it the first time, about his bisexuality, about _hating_ himself and turning it inward, letting it fester. Talks about killing Gordon and thinking about _him_ , about the father who hurts their son.

Watching Robert talk about prison, about being segregated because he was deemed mentally unstable enough to _require_ segregation, makes Aaron think he _could_ have killed, had Jack Sugden still been alive.

“I’m sorry,” he says, tugging Robert in. “You’re never going back to that.”

It’s _his_ promise. 

 

 

 

Leeds Crown Court vs Sugden & Dingle

Robert Sugden: Life, no possibility of parole. 

Aaron Dingle: 20 years with the possibility of parole.

_Addendum: As a condition of their sentence and probation, the court orders that Aaron Dingle and Robert Sugden are to have no further contact with one another under **any**  circumstances. _

 

 

 

(And sometimes Aaron’s truths hurt too;

"I love you," when they're reunited, Robert thinner, more drawn.

"Promise me you won't leave me," as he presses a kiss to Robert's neck, another safehouse, another family member they're putting in danger.

"I promise," Robert says.)

 

 

 

Robert catches Aaron’s eye as he slides his passport across the check-in desk. Liv’s tapping impatiently on her phone behind him, and he doesn’t know whether or not this will work, if they’ll get away with it, but whatever, he’s not sorry.

He and Robert have consistently hurt each other with their honesty, but Aaron can't imagine any other life.


End file.
